Exciting news! Work has begun for our new home in the Business Instructional Facility. This new space will expand our workspace by 50%, provide us with greater visibility, and make our lab more accessible to Illinois students and faculty. Our anticipated move-in date is September 1 and we plan to have a Grand Opening Event in October. During the course of the summer, we will post updates on the renovation progress. Stay tuned!
When you think of 3D printing, what types of students come to mind? Architecture majors, Engineers? Indeed, both types of students have been frequent visitors to the MakerLab. However, our lab has also attracted considerable interest from students across the University of Illinois, including majors in art & design, accounting, and finance. These students are eager to learn more about the Maker Movement and are interested in turning their ideas into reality. For this Meet the Makers spotlight, we introduce Martina Pillay and John Jacobs. Both Martina and John are seniors in Bioengineering and used the Lab's 3D printers to help complete their senior design project.
"For our senior design project, we were creating a device for GFP (Green fluorescent protein) detection in mice. We needed some sort of 3D printed casing to support the circuit and batteries for our device. 3D printing provided an affordable and simple method of designing our own case."
Come make something in the MakerLab this summer. We are open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 to 5:00.
Earlier this week, Mike Robinson, Anna Woodham, Sara Jones, and Diana Spencer visited the MakerLab.
Mike, Anna, Sara and Diana are professors at the University of Birmingham and members of the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage. These cultural scholars had never seen a 3D printer before and expressed strong interest in the potential for this technology to enrich cultural education. For example, we discussed the idea of creating a 3D model of the world famous Iron Bridge (seen below). This is a great example of the power of 3D printing to "bridge" the old and the new!
The MakerLab team presented on a new approach to learning, Learning by Making, at the Faculty Summer Institute 2013. The conference attracts faculty from schools across Illinois, who are interested in new approaches in teaching and learning. Dr. Aric Rindfleisch and Dr. Vishal Sachdev, gave an overview of the maker movement, 3D printing, the MakerLab and finished with a demonstration of 3D printing. There was considerable interest in the new course we are proposing for Spring 2014, titled "Making Things". This course will provide undergraduate students with the knowledge and skills to become active participants in the emerging maker economy. Specifically, this course will bring students from Business, Engineering, and Art & Design into interdisciplinary teams and teach them how to conceptualize, prototype, produce and market these products/designs.
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MakerBot just announced that they will be hosting a free webinar next Wednesday (May 22) at 11pm CST. This webinar will focus on how 3D printers can enhance product development. According to the announcement, participants will learn the following:
1. A step-by-step walk through of the 3D printing process, from CAD file to printed part.
2. An intro to PLA filament, a high-detail, durable bioplastic.
3. The impressive array of prototypes, parts, and models that a desktop 3D printer can produce
We will be broadcasting this webinar from the MakerLab that day (special hours). So, please stop by to join us!
Ben Riggins is an electrical engineering major, and a DIY enthusiast. He came to the MakerLab to build a faceplate to mount some cool electronics in his car.
"I'm building a device which will be mounted in my car's dashboard to display things like the temperature, the direction, and weather forecast information. It is connected to a Bluetooth module to communicate with my phone. The MakerLab allowed me to design and print a custom faceplate to mount the LCD screen and buttons. I've always felt limited to the parts I could make myself, but now so many things are possible. Thanks MakerLab!"
We encourage experimentation with electronics and open hardware in the Lab. To assist users, the Lab is equipped with Raspberry PI's and MakeyMakey Kits. One of the projects our lab guru, Danny, is working on is to enable queueing of prints on our 3D printers, using the Raspberry Pi. Send us a note using the contact form if you would like to work with him over summer on this or other fun electronics projects.
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